Walking with the Lord requires trust. We trusted Him for salvation; why wouldn’t we trust Him in our daily walk?

²¹ My son, do not let wisdom and understanding out of your sight,
    preserve sound judgment and discretion;
²² they will be life for you,
    an ornament to grace your neck.
²³ Then you will go on your way in safety,
    and your foot will not stumble.

Galatians 5:25 makes an assumption and then gives a directive. The assumption is actually found in verse 24, so let’s read both together:

²⁴ Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. ²⁵ Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.

The assumption is that we belong to Christ Jesus and have crucified our flesh with its passions and desires. A comparative verse is Romans 13:14, which says, “Clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.” If Jesus is Lord of our lives, this is exactly how we conduct our lives every day.

The directive is that since we live our lives according to the Spirit’s leading, we are to keep in step with Him. When running track, we would call keeping in step our pace; since I am a music guy, I call it tempo. If we match the TEMPO of our lives to Jesus, life will be so much more satisfying:

T- Time spent with Him in prayer and Bible study;

E- Energy spent seeking Him and serving Him;

M- Motivation fueled by the Holy Spirit;

P- Patient endurance, working to be like God every day (it makes us godly);

O- Objective overview; we step back and get God’s view on things (wisdom), then we keep His objectives first in our lives.

The next time you listen to a song, notice that you are keeping pace with the tempo of the song. Let it remind you that we are to keep in TEMPO with the Holy Spirit day by day, step by step.

Abba, I pray that You will help us establish a pace, one that is in step with You. May we be diligent in our TEMPO as we learn more about You in Your Word even as You teach us through what we are studying. You lead; we will follow. Amen.